Marvel’s ‘Eyes of Wakanda’ Streaming Premiere Moved Up—Coming Sooner Than Expected

Marvel’s new animated series Eyes of Wakanda is hitting Disney+ sooner than fans expected. Originally planned to drop on August 27, the show will now premiere on Friday, August 1.

All four episodes will be available to stream that same day, according to a new report from Entertainment Weekly.

The series is part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and is created by Todd Harris, who also serves as the showrunner and director. It’s produced by Marvel Studios Animation and Proximity Media, and is set in the MCU’s “Sacred Timeline,” meaning it connects directly to the main storyline of the films.

Eyes of Wakanda focuses on the Hatut Zaraze, a secret group of Wakandan warriors who take on dangerous missions throughout different points in history. The show uses an anthology format, with each episode telling a different story set in a different time period. Harris said the goal was to build out the world of Wakanda in ways that live-action films simply don’t have the time to explore.

“My goal for the whole show was to do the thing that a movie has trouble doing, which is making the world bigger,” Harris told Entertainment Weekly. “It is a nation with multiple zip codes.”

He also said the idea was to build on what Ryan Coogler had already established in the Black Panther films. “It was mostly just expanding the backdrop of the world that [Ryan Coogler] was able to establish, with just a little bit more time and a few more opportunities at the watering hole,” Harris said. “These things have been around for this long, really spreading out the mythology of Wakanda.”

The animation style for the series comes from Axis Animation and is inspired by the work of modern African-American artists like Ernie Barnes, along with the style of illustrator Dean Cornwell. Harris mentioned that the series reaches into some of the stranger and lesser-known parts of the Marvel universe. One example is the inclusion of Iron Fist, but not necessarily the version fans might recognize from past shows.

Harris teased that this new Iron Fist won’t be the one played by Finn Jones, and it might even be a version from Wakanda. “We went to the weird corners in the Marvel universe to see what we can get away with,” he said.

The cast includes Winnie Harlow as Noni, who is the lead in the first episode. Noni is a former member of the Dora Milaje and now being considered for the Hatut Zaraze. Harris describes her as “a James Bond version of a Dora who just doesn’t tow the company line.”

The project first came together after Disney signed an overall deal with Ryan Coogler’s Proximity Media back in 2021. Development for the Wakanda-focused animated series began in 2023, and the title Eyes of Wakanda was officially announced in December of that year. Harris’s involvement was confirmed in early 2024.

Fans will get to explore this new side of the MCU very soon when Eyes of Wakanda premieres on Disney+ on August 1.

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